Batman's House?

Yesterday, John and I both had the day off. We didn't really have any plans, but then my brother Jeff showed up at the door to work with Denny (our contractor) on the day's tasks. So, we quickly re-directed to working on the house for the day. We've both felt as if a lot of what was going on in terms of construction is well beyond our expertise. However, we were able to help today as Denny cleaned out what was in the part of the basement hidden behind what were the old stairs to the basement via the trap door in the kitchen. What came to light from looking through the new (temporary) trap door to the basement is that that original basement was literally carved out of stone. The walls and the floor are solid rock. Some crazy previous owner took a chisel and a bucket and dug out a 6' hole in the limestone.

It looks and feels like a cave down there... which is why it is apropos that Denny found three dormant bats there along one of the joists under the insulation. He found two bats previously when the chimney came down in the kitchen, and another in the upper rafters of the kitchen. Those two made since - there were obvious holes (mainly, the chimney) where a critter could get into our cozy cave for the winter. However... how did the bats get into the basement? John's mom said that bats can come into a home with as little as a 1/4" opening! From there, they must just crawl their way around, looking for a well insulated place to sleep through the winter. What amazing little critters. I just hope we don't find a half-dozen more flying around the house come spring... and then close off their entrance before next fall!!

No signs of mice or rats yet... keep your fingers crossed!!